Take the Waste Out of Your Spending

Buyer Beware:
The ability to save money has nothing to do with income. Take waste out of your spending and you’ll drive the haste out of your life. Continue to learn “the rules,” as they’re always changing.

Learn the rules
We’re not taught “the rules” in schoolhigh school, college, law school. So we go through life in the dark, not understanding why it’s so hard to get ahead. Hard work and perseverance unfortunately aren’t enoughyou have to know the rules to become financially free.

CAR
The first time I bought a new car, I’d just gotten out of law school. When I asked how much the car was, the salesperson asked how much I could pay each month, instead of telling me how much the car was. He never told me how much the car was, but I still bought it. This is not a smart way to buy a car. A few of unexpected life events and suddenly I was struggling to make the car payments. I bought it under their rules, not mine.

MORTGAGE
Prepayment penaltyMany mortgage companies want to entice you to keep the mortgage in place for the life of the loan. For many people, very little money goes toward paying down the principle the first seven years of a loan. Some mortgage notes have prepayment penalties so that if you pay the mortgage off earlier, you get penalized. Know what is on your note. You need to make informed decisions instead of being whisked along by a strong breezedirect your own choices.

Adjustable rate mortgagesThese adjust no more than X%/per year and X% over the life of the loan, with a lifetime cap. Be prepared to pay the maximum adjustable amount, incase rates increase. When the stock market crashed in 1987, my mortgage increased $1,000/month, an amount I couldn’t afford and had no backup plan for paying.

The mortgage broker is trained to help you get in the home you want, as is the real estate agent. If you say your maximum is $300,000 for a home, the agent will show you homes at $350,000. Then when you insist on only seeing homes in your price range, suddenly you really want a more expensive home and are likely to buy something more expensive. Remember, money is emotional. Stick to what you can afford and master money’s power over you.

Pathfinder Business Strategies is offering consumers who visit their website a free tax savings special report & CD titled “Tax Secrets of the Rich”. For information about these tools visit http://www.save10kintaxes.com

Repairing Your Credit Report

Fixing your credit report and repairing your credit are two distinct processes and problems. If your credit is bad, you can implement some of the strategies below to fix a low score.

Negotiate down the amount of debt (it’s easiest with private individuals). To do this, you must demonstrate the reason for falling behind. One of the tools you can use as leverage is offering something (not the full amount) rather than nothing. For example, explain why the lender should take $5,000 instead of $10,000. You can say “I’m calling five other creditors today. I’m offering you $0.50 on the dollar and if you aren’t interested, I’ll file for bankruptcy,” in which case they wouldn’t get a nickel).

Negotiate a forbearance with credit card companies and clients with mortgages. If there was an illness, death of a breadwinner, divorce or some other legitimate reason incurring severe financial difficulty, you may have a case. Show them you had a good reason for falling behind, agree to stay current on the current payment and offer to pay X amount per month toward what you owe. You also can stick the amount owed on the back of the loan. These are legitimate ways to negotiate and repair your credit.

Beware of illegitimate ways to repair credit

Watch out for companies that will put together new tax returns for you. They’re essentially offering to dummy up tax returns. Another scam is when they take advantage of the credit reporting service’s limited window to answer disputes. If, for example, the window is 14 days, they’ll write a letter saying you don’t owe (when you actually do). It’s just a matter of time before the bank fails to meet the 14-day window; when they miss deadline, you are not required to pay the disputed amount. Not only is this wrong ethically, but it doesn’t fix your credit problem. Additionally, companies that charge you an upfront fee to get you new credit (often ranging from $100 to $1,000), especially out of other countries, is a scam.

Recommended Read

I recommend “Your Credit Score” by Liz Weston, a helpful book on different strategies of legitimate ways to improve your credit score on your own. If you feel like you need/want help, there are legitimate services available to you as well.

Pathfinder is offering consumers who visit their website a free tax savings special report & Free Tax Saving Webinar. For information about these tools visit http://www.save10kintaxes.com

Pay Yourself First

Schools do not teach thrift: college, high school, junior highour system doesn’t place a high priority on frugality. And what a shame. We should put money aside regularly using a simple system pay yourself first.

For example, when you pay your utility bill, pay yourself first. I’ve talked to people who have mastered saving money who have become very wealthy. Many of them have had to make tough choicespay the phone bill or savings account? All of them chose to pay themselves first. They got on the phone with the phone company to buy time and negotiate a payment plan. Figure out a way, but pay yourself always.

You must pay yourself first, or you’ll negotiate away your savings. You want to have at least six months of living expenses, liquid. Savings is money you set aside that you never spend. Ultimately, you’ll invest it, generate passive income and get out of the rat race.

Recommended savings
60% Long-term savings
20% Emergencies
optional % “Emotional” (vacation/car savings account) (optional)

Or another way to think about it…

10% Yourself
10% Tithe
10% Pay down any debt you have (and commit yourself to not run up more debt)
70% Do anything you want with it.

Once you get the ball rolling, you can shift your savings into a CD, then shift it again into something with stronger returns. Your initial goal is to live on 90 percent of your earnings. The average American lives on 110 percent of his earnings. You can do it.

Another, separate, prong of this saving strategy is to tithe another 10 percent. It could be given to your church, the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, or any other organization you’d like to benefit. In my opinion, we owe it to our community and each other to be responsible and giving stewards of our money and do good in the world. I encourage us all to incorporate tithing into our savings plan of action. Your generosity will come back to you.

Pathfinder is offering consumers who visit their website a free tax savings special report & Free Tax Saving Webinar. For information about these tools visit www.Save10kinTaxes.com

Financial Immortality Can Be Yours!

Ignorance is bliss?

You’ve heard the expression “Ignorance is Bliss”. It refers to the idea that it’s easier to stay happy when we aren’t aware of the obstacles that face us. The problem is that ignorance will also get you and keep you broke.

Perhaps you find yourself having less income than you would like. You probably work hard for 40, 50 maybe 60 hours a week. Whether you are employed by another or self employed, I’ll bet you give it all you’ve got. Yet, if you can be honest for a moment, I also bet that you’re not getting ahead financially as quickly as you’d like. Maybe you’re even backsliding.

That’s because you’ve been sold a myth, a bag of goods. The myth is that the way to financial success is through hard work. Haven’t you been taught from the time you were a kid that the only way to success is through hard work? How is that working out for you? Not so great, right?

Or maybe you’re one of the lucky people that generate a high income. You may make $250,000, $500,000 or a million dollars a year. By most people’s standards, you are very successful. But you know the ugly truth. You’ve leveraged a lifestyle. Your monthly home payment would gag most people. Your car payments are through the roof. And your savings and investment portfolio is anemic, at best. As the guy on T.V says, “I’ve got everything I want and I’m drowning in a sea of debt”

You see, the key to building wealth is not simply to work hard or have a high income. The key to building wealth is in what you do with your income you’ve earned. If you’re interested in learning how to build lasting wealth, you’ve got to get a copy of my Wealth Accumulation program. Its jam packed with 37 ways to build and protect your wealth for generations to come. Decide today that you’ve waited long enough and get on the fast track to wealth.

Financial Immortality can be yours - starting NOW!

I’ve been thinking about this whole idea of financial immortality, what it is, how I can help people achieve it. Of course, it starts with a basic mind - shift (or paradigm shift for you champagne drinkers). This shift is subtle, yet it can make a HUGE difference to you financially. The whole idea starts when you spend less than you make and you save the difference. This key habit can turn you from a financial train wreck to a lasting wealth builder.

Think about it, if you never put something away for a rainy day, what happens when it finally rains? You lose your job, you face a business reversal. If you haven’t taken a clue from the squirrels and stored up a few nuts for the winter, you can pay a devastating price. Liquidation. Fire Sale. Motivated Seller. Everything Must Go! These are the words of poor planning and financial disaster.

If you want to learn how to avoid these things in your life, pick up a copy of my Wealth Accumulation Program. It contains 2 hours of powerful, yet practical information that can help you get on top financially, and the forms and financial logs that you need to track your progress.

Start today by opening up a “Financial Freedom” account at your local bank. Its nothing fancy - just a simple bank account that you can start to build into a powerful wealth tool. And here’s a secret that will make the whole process of saving easy. Have the bank automatically transfer money into your financial freedom account every week. You won’t even feel it, because it never passed through your hands.

Start with $500 or $100 if you need to. Heck start with $10 if that’s all you’ve got. But as you begin to build your income and your asset column, consistently and incrementally increase your weekly deposit amount. Before long, you’ll have a small nest egg, then a larger one and before you know it, you’ll have the whole nest!

Pathfinder Business Strategies is offering consumers who visit their website a free tax savings special report & CD titled “Tax Secrets of the Rich”. For information about these tools visit http://www.save10kintaxes.com

Entity Structuring

Entity structuring is the use of limited partnerships, limited liabilities, and corporations. These can help you accomplish three things:

1. Bullet-proofing your assets so that the bad guys are worse off if they try and take them away from you.

2. Slashing your taxes so that they are within single digits.

3. Protecting your privacy and building lasting wealth.

Let me explain how this works with the following example:

A case study: My friend Patrick grew up with the family business. His family sold expensive boats. His business grew. He was a financially intelligent man so he wanted to add a stream of income. Therefore, he decided to start a Marina, a land storage facility, a parts shop and a show room. I wanted to make sure he was properly protected and that he had bullet-proofed his assets. However, he was too busy making money to focus on it at that time. This was his fatal flaw. One day, I got that dreaded call from Patrick. The sheriff deputy was there to shut down his businesses: the Marina, the parts shop, the storage facility, and the show room. His business was locked down with pad locks in a matter of hours. Within six months, he lost all of his personal assets and filed both personal and corporate bankruptcy. The tragedy here is beyond his loses but the fact that this situation was completely avoidable. You can prevent this from happening to your business by using two power tools:

1. Limited Partnerships: separate legal entities. They separate your personal assets from business investments.

2. Limited Liability: similar to Limited Partnerships as they form a wall between you and the creditors and predators.

These two power tools include a built-in charging order that does not apply to your typical “S” or “C” corporations. A charging order basically states that the “bad guys” cannot go after your assets. They will be able to go after income but not after you employ the following strategy. We can set up a separate management company for you. Then, you can shift your money from your LLC or LP into your separate management company. The last step in your protection is called imputing income, and it finalizes the prevention of lawsuits. The IRS can step in and tax these bad guys for the money they are suing for (even when they are unable to collect this money.) This ensures the fact that suing you will not be worth the effort.

In summary: They cannot touch your assets because you have protected them. They cannot receive the income because you have shifted it out. They are left with heavy taxes imposed by the IRS. Therefore, the likelihood of you being sued is next to nothing.

My name is Drew Miles and I would like to offer you a free tax savings special report & Free Tax Saving Webinar, and all you have to do is visit my website! For more information about these tools and more please visit me at my site!

Pathfinder Business Strategies is offering consumers who visit their website a free tax savings special report & CD titled “Tax Secrets of the Rich”. For information about these tools visit http://www.save10kintaxes.com

Have No Time To Set Goals? Think Again!

Learning to effectively manage your time is paramount to your success; you will not be as successful (financially, emotionally, spiritually or in your family life) if you don’t. The good news is that there are some tools to make the job much easier.

Keep in mind that each one of these tools can be, and in fact is the subject of books, tape sets and seminars. I encourage you to go into each one more deeply. My purpose here is to outline the tools that I have found most useful in my own life. Some you’ve heard of already and you may benefit from a new perspective. Others will be new and you may want to add them to your existing tool belt.

Goal Setting

The fact is that most people spend more time planning their wedding and vacations then they do their life. As a result most weddings and vacations are well orchestrated, fun and joyful events and most people’s lives are in varying stages of disaster. With a road map, you can find your way anywhere. Without one, you’ll be lost before you know it. A well thought out properly organized set of goals is your road map.

The cornerstone of effective time management is to understand clearly what you want to accomplish. Otherwise you can be very efficient with your time, but you won’t be very effective. In other words if you are completing unimportant tasks twice as fast as before, you are being more efficient, but you are not heading in the right direction. And going faster and faster in the wrong direction won’t get you to where you ultimately want to be – right?

Decades ago, a remarkable study was done involving one hundred Harvard graduates. Twenty five years after each one graduated, they interviewed each of the students in order to determine how much they had accomplished. Each had similar backgrounds and resources and had received a similar level of education. The conclusion: the three people with written goals had accomplished more than the other 97 combined.

That is the power of having well thought out, written goals.

Learn to Visualize

The starting point for effective goal setting is to spend some quiet time alone and in a comfortable setting. Sometimes I’ll use my office, close the door and shut off my phone while other times, I’ll go to the beach or to a park. It is essential that you have at least 30 – 60 minutes of uninterrupted time, preferably more.

When I lived in New York, I’d often go to my cabin on 40 acres of secluded land and sit overlooking the pond. Occasionally I’d get a visit from a humming bird or a family of deer. Their input was always appreciated.

Bring a pad and pen (or laptop computer) and get alone in a relaxing setting. Let your mind wander. Play comforting music or light a candle if that helps you. Just let the events of your day go and settle into a relaxed state.

Here’s how you can organize it. Take one page for each of the major areas of your life including your business, relationships, spiritual life, health and fitness, education, fun and adventure, workshops and seminars, community service. Make that area the heading of the page. Then insert sub-headings on the page for 10 years, 5 years, 1 year, and each quarter. Leave sufficient space between each section.

Begin asking yourself questions like: Where do I want to be in ten years? Where will I live? What will my house look like (a center hall colonial, Tudor or contemporary beachfront house)? Who am I with? Am I married (with kids…if so, how many)?

Maybe you want to travel, or perhaps you like to stay home and throw parties.

What kind of car are you driving – a sports car or an SUV? Is it air conditioned or do you have the convertible down? Do you prefer a stick shift or an automatic transmission?

How much money are you making? One million? Ten Million? $200 thousand? What’s your net worth? How many employees do you have and what does your office look like?

Go through every major area of your life asking similar questions about your business, relationships, spiritual life, health and fitness, education, fun and adventure, workshops and seminars and community service.

Spend five to ten minutes on each of these areas and write down what comes to you. It’s not important if it seems unlikely or impractical. The key at this stage is to just write it down.

For those items that are more complicated or multi-step, you may want to list individual action steps that you’ll need to take. For example, if your goal is to sail the Caribbean in a 30 foot sloop within 12 months, you’ll need to get a passport, locate the right travel company, set aside sufficient funds, ask some friends to join you (or not), etc. You can list each of the action steps in order of importance in the space provided.

Invariably, somewhere during this process Mr. or Mrs. Doubtfire will appear and beginning telling you why your dreams are unachievable, even ridiculous. I suggest that you smile at him/her, thank them for sharing their thoughts and go right back to what you were doing. Don’t get into a wrestling match with your internal naysayer. Don’t evaluate or analyze. Just keep on dreaming and writing. There will be plenty of time for practicality later on.

Continue with this process for each area of your life for each of the time frames listed.

You’ll probably want to switch over to a word processor for the next step if you haven’t already. Take each of the goals that you’ve listed and rearrange them in order of priority. Which is the most important goal in each category, the second most important goal in each category, the third, etc? Can you see that your life is starting to come together in a new and more powerful way?

Pathfinder Business Strategies is offering consumers who visit their website a free tax savings special report & CD titled “Tax Secrets of the Rich”. For information about these tools visit http://www.save10kintaxes.com

The Ten Golden Tax Deduction Secrets

One of the key secrets to tilting the tax laws in your favor is to own your own business and shift the taxing structure to your advantage. In this article, we are going to cover just a small fraction of the 300 deductions that are available to you as a business owner.

But first, I’d like to start with a question: At any point in your life, did your accountant make it a point to do a comprehensive review of the tax deductions that you can put to work for you? If you are like most people, the answer is probably not. I don't mean that as a slam against accountants. It's simply a wake up call to the fact that most accountants and C.P.A.’s are simply income tax preparers, not income tax planners. They may do a fine job of preparing tax returns but the information that you are now learning is simply outside the scope of their services.

With that as a background, let’s take some time to highlight a few of the more powerful, yet lesser-known deductions that are available. When I speak at seminars, I often teach people about my Top-Ten favorites or what I sometimes call “The Golden Tax Secrets”. In no particular order, they are:

1. Achievement Awards: Each year, your company can give away to its employees three separate awards. Each of these awards is worth up to $1,600 per year in kind. That means that you can’t write the employee a check for $1,600, but rather, you can present him or her a tax deductible gift (in kind). Examples include ski equipment, a plasma TV, golf clubs, cookware, etc. You get the idea. The gift can really be anything other than cash.

The first gift is for longevity. This is reserved to companies in existence for five years or more. You can present the gift to your longest standing employee and if you are the ONLY employee of the company, then this would definitely be YOU.

The second is gift is for safety. This gift is typically reserved for companies in a risky business like construction or a factory. I suppose rehabbing real estate would qualify.

The third gift is for sales excellence. You can award your best salesperson this award based on their outstanding performance during the previous year.

2. Your Annual Corporate meeting: The law requires you to update your formal corporate documents each year. This includes keeping accurate financial records, corporate resolutions and minutes, etc. So, as the owner of your business, you can combine your annual meeting with a vacation, kill two birds with one stone and make the entire trip tax deductible! And you can bring your family, too.

3. Your Corporate Gym: Unfortunately, the IRS won’t let you directly deduct the cost of your gym membership. However, under section 132 (h) of the tax code, you can deduct the cost of the Gym equipment. So that Nautilus set, your Bow Flex machine, even the Gazelle Trainer that you’ve seen on television – not to mention free weights, a work out bench, etc – are all tax deductible through your company.

4. Business Gifts: Your company can give gifts to individuals of up to $25.00 per year. Often, these gifts are given as year –end or holiday bonuses. But a little known nuance is that your company’s gifts to other companies are unlimited. So I suppose your company could give a corporate gym membership away to your friend’s company. I I can’t see any reason for your friend’s company to provide a corporate gym membership to your company in return.

5. Meals and Lodging: Under section 119, your company can cover the costs of meals and hotel expenses required for overnight stays. These trips might involve researching new products, better sources of supplies, new real estate deals, etc.

6. Put Your Kids on the Payroll: Instead of paying your kids an allowance, hire your kids and put them to work. They’ll learn first hand, the importance of having their own business, and their salary is fully tax deductible.

7. Seminars: Your company can pay for the cost of educational seminars- even if they have nothing to do with your current business. So, for example, if you want to learn how to invest in foreclosures, your comapy can pay the freight. What about things like golf lessons, ski lessons, dance lessons or scuba diving? These can all be included!

8. Dependant Care Plan: The tax code allows you to deduct up to $5,250 for the costs associated with caring for dependants This includes young children and our adult parents who, nowadays often have to turn to us for help.

9. Moving Expenses: Your company can pay the cost of an executive move – whether it is across town or across the country.

10. Your Retirement Plan. Your company can establish its own retirement plan. It can include you, your spouse and even your kids. There are MANY different types of retirement plans to choose from, and a retirement specialist can help you choose the best types of plans for you and your family. Imagine hiring your child, grandchild, or niece/nephew to work for your business and paying them a tax deductible salary which they place into a tax deductible retirement fund from the time they are age 7. You might also want to self-direct that plan into your favorite investments. Just imagine the financial head start that would give them.

And those are just ten of my favorites. There are many more available to help you save on taxes. By applying these tax deductions, along with the other 300 deductions available to business owners, you can save yourself thousands of dollars each year on your tax bill. Take some time to see what deductions are available to you, and be sure you aren't overpaying your taxes like millions of other Americans!

Pathfinder Business Strategies is offering consumers who visit their website a free tax savings special report & CD titled “Tax Secrets of the Rich”. For information about these tools visit http://www.save10kintaxes.com

Want A Better Retirement Plan? Own Your Own Business!

So about ten years ago, I had what I now recognize as a defining moment in my life. I was building a successful law practice on eastern Long Island and I found myself discussing the virtues of practicing law with some of the “old timers” in the area. They told me about how proud they were having built their own practice to the point where they could support their family in a comfortable lifestyle and put their kids through college. With any luck, by the time they were 65-70 years old, they’d be able to “slow down a little, maybe even retire”.

All the while, I began to read books and listen to audio programs. I was searching. I knew that something was amiss, but I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was.

Then one morning it all came together. As I took the long walk from the front door of my office to the mail box it hit me. I stood there on Main Street and looked west. As I did I recalled the earlier conversations with my colleagues about how proud they were for how long and hard they had worked. Then, I looked east and recalled similar conversations I had had with the attorneys whose offices were in that direction.

I had a realization.

If I continued on the path I was on, I’d wind up in the same shape they were in. Older, overworked, tired, spending more time telling war stories than planning an exciting future. And it was in that moment that I vowed to find a better way.

Let’s face it, no matter how much you enjoy your career, at some point you want to be able to stop working. My goal is to not stop working – total retirement sounds way too boring for me. But it’s nice to know that you don’t have to work forever, isn’t it? Imagine if you could do whatever you wanted with your time, without having to concern yourself with money. If you could go to the office and do what you do just for the love of it.

By having your own business, you gain access to retirement plans that allow you to contribute not thousands of dollars but tens of thousands of dollars each year and to invest those funds in virtually any kind of typical investment or business so that it can grow faster than ever.

So, now you know why you must have your own business to get ahead financially. The next step is to begin taking action.

I’ve learned that in business recognition and accolades are the booby prize. Not so in our personal lives, but in business, if I get an ovation or a pat on the back, I’ve failed miserably. For me success means convincing other people to take action.

I implore you to take action.

I’m going to suggest that you set up an important account to ensure your future. That’s your saving or investment account. You’ve probably heard the expression “pay yourself first”. For years, I didn’t understand what that meant or how to do it. So, this is how you pay yourself first.

Each week, you take a pre-determined amount and deposit it into a savings account. It might be between 5% and 10% of your anticipated profit. Over time that account will grow and provide you with the means to make other investments. After all, if you are not setting aside some savings, what are you going to retire on? Social Security? Forget it! You have to provide your own retirement plan and this is the first step.

Pathfinder Business Strategies is offering consumers who visit their website a free tax savings special report & CD titled “Tax Secrets of the Rich”. For information about these tools visit http://www.taxsavingconcepts.com

Failure; A Misunderstood Key To Business Success

I called one of my mentors recently about a new idea I was exploring to promote my business. It concerned promoting one day seminars which would require an investment of $50,000 each. I explained that although I was new at this aspect of the business, I was working with someone who had done similar, though not identical events so I felt a high level of confidence for our success.

I figured I’d try it once and if it worked out, I would continue. If not, I would cut my losses and drop the idea.

His suggestion was “Drew, you’ve got to plan to do at least three or four of those events before you work out the kinks. Be prepared to lose money on the first few.” In other words don’t do the event if its overall success depends on you getting it right the first time. No one gets anything 100% right the first time through.

Here’s what happened. The first event lost over $20,000. We made some changes to the format and the second event broke even. It was only after the third event that we got the system to the point where it made money.

If I had gone with the “I’ll give it one try” approach, we would have failed. Planning ahead to gain the benefit of our learning experiences lead to our ultimate success.

I just finished a speaking engagement in Vancouver. During one of the breaks, two ladies approached me and asked my opinion about the current state of their business. They had taken several real estate courses, read a number of books, and attended four different “wealth building” seminars; yet they still hadn’t purchased their first property. In fact, they hadn’t even made their first offer. Sound familiar? It is a very common problem.

They took me up on my invitation to discuss their situation over a cup of coffee. For the first five or ten minutes they expressed their frustration about not getting started and about making a significant investment yet not seeing any return. They shared how their personal situation was getting in the way of their business dreams. In about ten minutes the cause of their problem became obvious:

They were trying to conjure up and solve every conceivable problem they might face ahead of time instead of taking their first step forward.

Now, I’m a believer in planning and problem avoidance techniques. Yet, may people get bogged down in the “what-ifs” and never get into the game. In just a few more minutes together we outlined a three step plan to get them “unstuck” and on their way to actual real estate investing.

Never start something if you can’t afford to withstand a few learning experiences. You can't plan ahead for every conceivable twist of the road, and throwing more money into more courses is not the same as putting the pedal the metal and getting out there on the road. Failures are there to teach us something, and to make our ultimate success that much sweeter.

Pathfinder Business Strategies is offering consumers who visit their website a free tax savings special report & CD titled “Tax Secrets of the Rich”. For information about these tools visit http://www.taxsavingconcepts.com

How To Find Financial Freedom

Before you can find anything you must first know what you are looking for, and finding financial freedom is no different. When I was in college, many years ago now, I received a free membership to a video rental store. A friend and I took off in the direction that we “thought” we should go. We knew where we wanted to go, but didn’t know where the store was. We drove, and drove, and drove but we never found the place.

Finding financial freedom is much like that; you must know what it is in order to know if you have found it. So what is financial freedom? A street reporter asking that question would get many different answers. Therefore, let’s start with just the concept of freedom. William Wallace from the movie Braveheart would say that freedom is giving up your life for something or someone else. Others would say that freedom is living a life not needing anyone or anything. And still others would say that freedom is living free from oppression and communism.

As you can see there are many different definitions – and you must find your own. Most would agree that finding financial freedom can be defined as, “Being free from financial bondage and being able to pay all the monthly bills while at the same time saving something for the future.”

The Five phases of Finding Financial Freedom:

1. Discovery Phase

The first step in the discovery phase is setting financial goals. This is discovering what you want to accomplish – your road map. Once again, if you don’t know where you are going then how will you know when you get there? The second step is to begin seeing the real issues. In other words, discovering what is happening in your financial life right now. To do this you should make a list of your: assets, current household expenses, and current short-term and long-term debts. Knowing where you are will help you get to where you want to be.

2. Tracking Phase

In the tracking phase you begin to do just that – track what you are spending. Actually, you begin tracking all income and spending – this will tell you just what is happening, no lying to yourself here. You do this by developing a spending plan. This may sound to basic but I will assure you that if you begin tracking your income and spending you will be well on the road to finding financial freedom.

3. Adjusting Phase

Develop a financial blueprint is critical in the adjusting phase. This is a more detailed roadmap. A map that will help you focus in with laser-like precision on your financial goals. During the adjusting phase you lay out a plan of action that is detailed enough to get you where you want to go.

This could be compared to a builder building a house. Doing so without a blueprint would get the house built, but what would it look like and how long would it stand when the storms of life come? That reminds me of a 3 Stooges show I saw years ago. The three friends (Moe, Larry, and Curley) set out to build a home for their three new wives. The fact that they didn’t have a blueprint didn’t decrease their determination. The end result was odd shaped doors, a roof that allowed the light of day and the rain of night in, and a bathtub nicely installed in the bathroom – but it was on its side.

4. Systems Phase

Systems are what you need to make sure you stay on track. Many have tried to find financial freedom but have come up short because they didn’t have a good set of systems in place. One very easy system is the Envelope System. What you must realize is that temptation is a very strong force to fight. Many times you may feel like you are in the ring with the heavy-weight champion of the world and its name is “temptation.” Having “cash money” set aside for each category in your spending plan will keep you in line and make you a financial champion.

Another system you need is a group of professionals that will help assist you on your financial journey. You must realize that you can’t do it alone.

5. Future Planning Phase (This is why we started the entire process)

During this phase you look out into the future and begin to organize your estate, plan for retirement, and put things in place for your children.

Many families have been devastated by the death of a loved one only to find more turmoil because a good plan was not laid out and financial records were not able to be found.

In order to find financial freedom you must take a deep look inside yourself and determine what you want your future to be like. Then…

• Discover very practical and logical steps to get there.
• Track your progress along way.
• Make the necessary adjustments to keep you on track to your preferred future.
• And realize that you can’t do it alone and that you need the help of others to get there.

Pathfinder Business Strategies is offering consumers who visit their website a free tax savings special report & CD titled “Tax Secrets of the Rich”. For information about these tools visit http://www.taxsavingconcepts.com

Drew Miles Reviews Smart Year End Planning

1. Smart Yearend Planning--Taxes

There are three main areas we need to keep in mind as the year ends:

1. Taxes
2. Corporate formalities
3. Planning for next year

Revisit the idea of converting your 10 largest expenses. This is an ongoing process that should be done at least twice the first year. It’s not realistic to expect you will convert all of your biggest expenses the first time around because it’s too big of a task—this is a habit needing to be developed over time. Our largest expenses, habits, and businesses all change over time. As your life evolves, so should your deductions, so keep current.

Strategy: upstreaming income. The goal of upstreaming income is to shift income from this tax year to the next tax year. Whatever your operating account balance is on December 31 will get added, as of January 1, to your last year’s income. If you have a $50,000 balance, for example, going into the next year, that’s taxable income. You therefore should upstream the money, making it no longer taxable for that year. This strategy is applicable if you have an S Corp, partnership, limited partnership or sole proprietorship.

How to upsteam income:

Upstreaming income is accomplished by setting up a new entity such as a management company with a different yearend than your business. A business’s income can then be shifted out of the 2006 tax year to 2007. You will want a contract and invoices to reflect this agreement between your business and management company. Move the $50,000 balance to your management company with a June 1 yearend, for example. The money should be moved ideally at least on a monthly basis, not just once at the end of the year. I recommend taking five to 10 checks out of your checkbook and put them in a file for the upcoming year. In January, if you find out you had some expenses you missed—it’d be a lot better to have a check in sequence that you can write from December.


2. Smart Yearend Planning—Corporate Formalities

There are three main areas we need to keep in mind as the year ends:
1. Taxes
2. Corporate formalities
3. Planning for next year

The power of documentation—shifting the burden of proof:

For those who have an LLC (opposed to a sole proprietorship, S Corporation or C Corporation), it’s always better to over-document. By keeping a tax diary, you shift the burden of proof from yourself to the IRS, who then has to disprove its validity.

Annual meeting—an opportunity to have some fun:

Make sure you’ve done your annual meeting by the end of the year. Why you’re at it, you might as well make it fun. You can hold it anywhere in the continental United States without a problem, and you can hold the meeting abroad or Hawaii or Alaska if you can show why you needed to hold the meeting there.

Get corporate minutes and meetings in line.

1. Prepare a notice or waiver of notice (available on Pathfinder’s Web site). When you have a corporation, you need to notify in writing by certified mail all the shareholders of the meeting. If you’re the only shareholder, you certainly do not need to send a notice to yourself; instead, you can print out a waiver of notice because the notice is unnecessary.

2. Print out a form for the meeting’s minutes. Minutes are what you discuss at the meeting (or think about, if it is just you at the meeting). You can hold your annual meeting in Aspen and ski. When you’re in the lodge thinking about what you want to do the next year for marketing, etc. and jotting down ideas, this could be your annual meeting.

3. Extracurricular things need a resolution. Resolutions are decisions you made at the annual meeting. You don’t need one to take a client to dinner or attend a seminar. You do, however, need one if you rent new space, open up a new bank account, buy a car. It’s better to be safe than sorry and have a resolution.

4. This is a good time to make sure you have a medical reimbursement plan in writing. Fill out the form off Pathfinder’s Web site and keep it in the corporate kit. Use the same advice in regard to your educational assistance plan. Preparing this document does not take long, but it’s very important.


3. Smart Yearend Planning—Planning for the next year

There are three main areas we need to keep in mind as the year ends:
1. Taxes
2. Corporate formalities
3. Planning for next year

Planning for the next year:

a) Operations—What are one or two areas of your business that can be improved? How can you improve your service, stay in better touch with clients, close the gaps in your system? Ask your customers, clients and employees for suggestions. People like the fact you ask, even if they don’t have suggestions. For constructive feedback, you need an environment where people can take criticism or self-critique, not pointing fingers but rather give non-accusatory feedback.

b) Marketing—Make it a goal to adopt one new marketing strategy or lead generation strategy per quarter for the next year.

c) Steams of income—Add one or two more streams of income for the next year. If you flip property, try hanging on to one or two to rent. If you have a Web marketing business, add one or two new products or services.

d) Joint Ventures or product—Many of you have a product or book in you.
Tie up loose ends and hit the ground running at the yearend. Write down your goals now and about halfway through the year. Revisit what you wrote down—you will be stunned at how much you’ve accomplished.


4. Tips from Drew

The big O—Organize!

Get organized. Period. Pathfinder advocates separate files for each expense: utilities, phone, electric, Internet, auto, etc. Each month, invoices (such as repairs or maintenance) go in those files. The invoices are then categorized by group and chronologically (ex. January car bills, February car bills, etc.). When 2007 comes around, copy the file names from last year and start a new file bin for the next year. You can then take this to your accountant’s office along with your tax diary and you’re set.

If you don’t already have an electronic bookkeeping system such as Quicken, Quick Books or others, get one and use it immediately. I learned this lesson the hard way. When I was practicing law, my accountant had me list all of my expenses. It took me 40 to 50 hours to do. The following year I changed over to Quick Books, which condensed those countless hours to the push of one button. Lists off of Quick Books (or other like program) can easily be emailed directly to your accountant.

Get out of dodge:

It’s absolutely necessary to get away from business. I need to get away 100 percent, meaning no calls, no email--no business at all. For me to be creative, I need to be recharged and take two or three weeks to see friends, ski, do nothing and relax. When I take a three-week break in December every year, I come back to business in January and it all looks different and I’m energized.

The wealthiest and most successful people don’t run themselves ragged. They stop long before running out of steam, taking small- and large-scale breaks to re-charge when needed. You can’t do your best thinking when you’re running at 80 percent. Take at least two or three three-day weekends each quarter to recharge your batteries.


5. Financial Vertigo: Clear your head

Although Pathfinder focuses on generating money, this lesson covers one of the biggest misconceptions we have about money: if we make more money, we’ll be better off. It doesn’t matter how much money we make, but rather how we spend and save it. Take two Pathfinder clients as examples: Client A worked at Home Depot making $30,000 a year and had his finances in order and spent less money than he made. He was financially free. Client B was a doctor making $250,000 a year and was financially upside down; as he received salary increases, he’d incrementally spend the increase and more.

The more people make, the more they spend. Being upside down financially affects every aspect of your life: family, marriage, leisure activities, emotional health and the list goes on. Whether you earn a salary of $50,000 and you spend $55,000 or if you’re organized and have your finances in a row—there’s always room for improvement and new information to learn.

Purpose of the Pathfinder Program:

1. Learn how to get out of debt completely (including your home mortgage in nine years or less)2. Improve your relationships
3. Pay up to 50 percent less taxes each year
4. Learn how to make a smooth transition into retirement
5. Establish lasting wealth for generations to come


Pathfinder Business Strategies is offering consumers who visit their website a free tax savings special report & CD titled “Tax Secrets of the Rich”. For information about these tools visit http://www.taxsavingconcepts.com

Drew Miles Reviews Ways to Save on Your Taxes

Hi, my name is Drew Miles, and I would like to share with you some ways your business can save money on taxes every year, just by following some simple steps. It’s that “Wonderful” time of year again! You ask, “What time is it?” IT’S TAX TIME! When operating your own business most of us are always busy building the company, and it’s the little things that get overlooked every year. So remember, when you sit down to gather all the information for your tax accountant or bookkeeper to prepare your taxes this year, make sure you have checked off every deduction that you are allowed to take. It could save you A LOT of MONEY!

Most experienced small-business owners have an ongoing relationship with their tax specialist to simplify the tax filing process each year. Even so, some of the infrequently used deductions can easily be overlooked. The following is a list of business expenses that are often passed over in tax preparation season, and can serve to reduce your tax bill. Be sure to review all of your expenses and look for potential tax deductions you may have missed. Consult with your tax adviser when considering deducting any of the following items because limitations and special requirements may apply.

1. Advertising and printing of business materials.
2. Automobile expenses for business use, using either actual costs of repair and gas or the standard mileage deduction.
3. Business entertainment.
4. Business equipment and furnishings. --Business safe deposit box fees--Depreciation on business equipment--Office supplies--Software costs--Telephone (cell phones), Internet, television and other communication used for business purposes--Business gifts, provided they meeting IRS criteria.
5. Business insurance premiums.
6. Costs of business books, periodicals or newspapers.
7. Donations the business gives to charities.
8. Dues or membership costs to professional organizations.
9. Education costs for self or employees, when business related.
10. Expenses when moving offices or other business facilities.
11. Fees and penalties.--Relating to CDs, business checking, savings or money-market accounts--Associated with retirement accounts for self and employees--For credit bureaus, Better Business Bureaus, local associations, etc.--Paid to employment agencies.
12. Interest payments on business loans.
13. Janitorial, landscaping and maintenance costs.
14. Losses due to fire, windstorm, hail, flood or other natural disasters may be deductible.
15. Losses due to theft may be deductible.
16. Mortgage or lease payments.
17. Self-employed tax deductions.--Individuals can deduct a percentage of their health insurance premiums paid during the year, both for themselves and for their dependents--May deduct one-half of their self-employment tax.
18. Shipping and postage.
19. Tax preparation fees, accounting fees, attorney fees, insurance consultation fees, etc.
20. Travel expenses.--Hotels, airfare, meals and business entertainment while on the road--Costs of passports for self and employees when traveling for business purposes--Laundry costs when traveling for business--Unpaid invoices or debts (i.e., uncollected debts).
21. Utilities for business facilities.

Pathfinder Business Strategies is offering consumers who visit their website a free tax savings special report & CD titled “Tax Secrets of the Rich”. For information about these tools visit http://www.taxsavingconcepts.com

Pathfinder Business Strategies Offers Timely Tax Saving Strategies To Survive The Impending Economic Downturn

Pathfinder Business Strategies, LLC a privately held company which advises corporations, consumers & small to mid size companies on asset protection, tax savings & wealth building strategies is urging all Americans to structure their finances properly to save as much money as possible on their taxes, and to prepare for the economic uncertainty facing the country.

Pathfinder, which is located in Sebastian Florida, is run by Drew Miles, a former attorney who after practicing law for thirteen years realized that most of his clients were unprepared financially for any sort of drastic economic downturn. “When the economy takes a turn for a worse, everyone starts tightening their belts,” said Mr. Miles. “But one place that is often overlooked is the amount of taxes they pay.”

Pathfinder Business Strategies has advised more than 5,000 small and large businesses, as well as individuals how to arrange their assets and income to pay the absolute legal minimum in taxes. “We have found that the wealthiest people in the country are paying as little as 5% of their income in taxes, while the average person is paying upwards of 30-50% of their income in taxes.” Drew Miles advises that the best way to prepare for a rocky economic future is to make sure that you are keeping all the money that you are legally entitled to.

Those who will be hit hardest by the struggling economy are those who can least afford it. Hard working middle-class Americans will not only feel the lifestyle altering effects of the faltering economy, but are also the ones paying the most in taxes.

The United States' economic downturn is making headlines across the world. The falling value of the dollar, combined with the sharp decline in the housing market and skyrocketing energy prices has put many Americans in a panic about the future of the economy.

“It’s amazing how I’m going to save, and how much this is going to help me. This year, it looks like I’m going to save $30,000 in taxes.” said Joronda Perry, a Pathfinder client and real estate investor from Baltimore, Maryland. “Meaning that half of the income that I usually pay in taxes, I’m going to get to keep.”

In addition to tax savings, Pathfinder Business Strategies advises their clients on how to audit-proof their finances, protect their assets in the event of a lawsuit, and grow their retirement account completely tax-free.

Americans need all the money they can get in order to survive this financial crisis. While many people are turning to business opportunities which can turn out to be scams, Pathfinder Business Strategies offers a way to have more money on hand without having to make any more income.

“It is important for people to realize that Americans are making far more money than they are actually taking home,” said Drew Miles. “A very large percentage of their weekly salary is lost to taxes before they ever cash a check. This money can be recovered and used to pay for rising expenses. When you realize just how much money you are losing right off the top, tax savings is like getting an instant pay raise from the government”.

Pathfinder Business Strategies recently reported an average savings of ten to thirty thousand dollars in tax savings for each client. These savings are not of a one-time nature, but rather continue every year into the foreseeable future.

Pathfinder is offering consumers who visit their website a free tax savings special report & CD titled “Tax Secrets of the Rich”. For information about these tools visit http://www.taxsavingconcepts.com

Drew Miles Reviews Scams Facing Taxpayers

No one wants to pay more taxes than they are lawfully required to. But sometimes in their quest for lower taxes, many people will fall prey to many scams that promise a lower tax bill. In the end, these scams are always more trouble than they are worth.

My name is Drew Miles, and I am known as the Tax Savings Attorney. My goal is to help as many people lower their taxes to the absolute legal minimum, without any risk of facing problems with the IRS. I don'twant anyone going through an audit or facing IRS penalties, so I want to show you a few common tax scams to look out for.

One of the most common scams comes from those who oppose any taxation by the IRS. They claim that there is no law requiring you to pay taxes, and they say that filing is voluntary. Whether or not the law is on their side, if you don't file your taxes, the IRS is going to come after you. A similar scam is to file a "zero return" claiming noincome. This raises a huge red flag with the IRS, and is going to get you in trouble.

Another common scam comes from those who prepare your taxes, and claim they can greatly reduce your taxes or promise you a large refund. Dishonest return preparers can cause many headaches for taxpayers who fall victim to their schemes. Such preparers derive financial gain by skimming a portion of their clients' refunds and charging inflated fees for return preparation services.

Taxpayers should choose carefully when hiring a tax preparer. As the old saying goes, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."And remember, no matter who prepares the return, the taxpayer is ultimately responsible for its accuracy. Since 2002, the courts have issued injunctions ordering dozens of individuals to cease preparing returns, and the Department of Justice has filed complaints against dozens of others. During fiscal year 2005, more than 110 tax return preparers were convicted of tax crimes.

One common scam involves offshore transactions. Individuals continueto try to avoid U.S. taxes by illegally hiding income in offshore bank and brokerage accounts or using offshore credit cards, wire transfers, foreign trusts, employee leasing schemes, private annuities or life insurance to do so. The IRS and the tax agencies of U.S. states and possessions continue to aggressively pursue taxpayers and promoters involved in such abusive transactions. If you think that an offshore account is the ticket to lower taxes, you need to think again.

People always ask me "Drew Miles, with all these scams out there, how can I legally lower my taxes?" The short answer is by taking advantage of the overlooked legal tax deductions, which can drastically reduce your taxable income. The most powerful tax saving strategy you can use is to clearly understand the distinction between your personal and business expenses, and work to legally convert your largest personal expenses into legitimate business expenses. Its the small items that most preparers overlook that add up to big savings.

When you apply legal tax saving strategies to your finances, your taxes will not only be lower than if you had listened to any of these unscrupulous tax scammers, but you will not have to worry about being challenged by the IRS.

To learn more about legal tax savings, pickup a copy of my free CD, Tax Secrets of The Rich, at http://www.taxsavingconcepts.com/

Take Advantage of Tax Write Offs

If you are in business for yourself, there is a good chance you are paying entirely too much in taxes. Why? Because you aren’t taking advantage of the more than 300 tax write offs available to business owners. Everyone knows that you pay a certain amount in taxes based on the amount of income you generate, and that this percentage varies with income. Now it’s obvious that the less income you make, the less tax you will have to pay. So how can tax write-offs help? Well, the way it works is that you deduct (or ”write off”) all of your business expenses, then you only have to pay taxes on what’s left. So if you make $50,000 but have expenses of $10,000 in the course of running your business, you will only have to pay tax on the $40,000. The more legitimate tax deductions you take, the lower your taxable income and the less you hand over to the IRS. It’s important to only take legitimate tax deductions, as trying to write off personal expenses can get you into trouble with the IRS, and you don’t want that.

If you are looking for a way to lower your taxes, protect your assets from lawsuits, and plan for your retirement, please sign up for a complementary tax strategy session with a professional from Pathfinder Business Strategies. We will help you find business deductions you may have never knew existed, and can save you from overpaying your taxes by thousands of dollars every year!

If You Fail to Plan, Plan To Fail

In order to succeed at anything you’ve got to have a plan. Business is no different. Yet, depending on the type of business you’re operating, the plan will vary.

For example, if you are raising money from investors or bringing a company public, you need a lengthy and comprehensive plan. It must not only provide a realistic strategy for running the business successfully, but it must also demonstrate to potential investors your knowledge of the business and your ability to foresee problems and solve them. A good plan will also include comprehensive market research and your response to it, and a detailed proforma that shows worst case, best case and most likely financial projections over a three to five year period. It takes three to five months to put a comprehensive business plan together.

These days it’s much easier to put together a “canned” business plan. Just buy one of a hundred “fill in the blanks” software applications or download the forms from the web and tailor it to your needs. In an hour or so you’ll have a 40 or 50 page professional looking business plan with financial projections and color coded diagrams. The problem is that your professional looking plan will be almost useless.

It's a Road Map

A business plan is no different than any other plan. Things happen along the way that may take you off course. The question is how should you respond to the distractions?

Years ago I decided to make a vacation of seeing the beauty of this country by going from national park to national park camping in a tent. Because I was beginning my journey in Long Island, New York, I had little choice other than to head west. I plotted a course that included the most interesting and beautiful places I knew of and laid it all out on a map.

I became a member of AAA (mentors), both for their road side assistance program and for their incredible flip-chart style maps. I bought the needed supplies, got my car checked out by a mechanic, and planned my departure date. Everything was ready.

I figured I’d get a good night’s sleep that night and get on the road early to beat the traffic. I got to bed early and laid there waiting to fall asleep. I was too excited – there was no way I could get myself to sleep. So I got up at 11 p.m., took a quick shower and hit the road 4 and a half hours early. My trip had barely begun and I was already off plan.

By six a.m. I was very sleepy, so I took a nap in the car at a truck stop. I arrived in St. Louis a little earlier than originally anticipated, but fairly close to the plan I had put together. And so it went for the rest of the trip – my carefully crafted plan was more of a road map (literally) than a set of hard and fast rules.

And so it will be with your business plan. There will be detours; some positive, some negative. The key to success is distinguishing between the two types of detours and working through them appropriately.

There's More Than One Right Way

One hint is to be concerned more with the outcome (results) than with the path (method). In other words, if the deviation is simply a different way of producing the same or a better outcome, it’s a positive deviation. If the deviation results in missing an important goal or deadline, it’s a negative deviation.

This is why building a successful business is more of an art than a science.

Dishonest Partner(s), inconsistent employees and unreliable vendors are all negative deviations. If you find yourself in business with these types of people, you need to make big changes. You cannot build a successful business surrounded with these kinds of people.

Missed goals, surges in orders, running slightly behind schedule, an ad campaign that under-produces. These are all deviations that can be worked around, and overcome. You need to evaluate them as part of the “big picture” and decide whether they are heading you down a dead end, or pointing to another path that will get you to a better result.

Here’s a technique that will help you to evaluate deviations and help you overcome them:

Have ten backups for each major part of your plan and five backups for the minor parts of the plan!

As a kid, I was enthralled with the Apollo space program. I watched every launch, every moon landing and every moon walk on T.V. During one of the press conferences after the Apollo 11 mission, a reporter asked Neil Armstrong, “Sir, suppose you were sitting there in the Lunar Module about to blast off from the moon and the rocket didn’t fire. You’ve only got 2 hours of oxygen left at that point. What would you do? Would you pray, would you ask to speak to your wife on the radio? How would you spend your last two hours?”

Armstrong answered without hesitation. He said, “I’d spend the two hours fixing the problem.” That’s the difference between success and failure. Successful people solve problems; unsuccessful people get stopped by them.

Many people now realize that a big part of an astronaut’s training is working in flight simulators responding to problems. In fact, those simulators are programmed with every imaginable problem they can encounter and the astronauts are trained to “work the solutions” one at a time until the problem is solved.

Business is no different. You will be faced with problems. A big part of handling them effectively is thinking them through ahead of time and preparing your responses in advance. The more alternative solutions you can develop, the better prepared for setbacks you will be.

If you want more confidence and certainty, you can do this process with every area of your business plan. Sit down by yourself or with your partner (or mentor) and brainstorm each issue. The more alternative solutions you have, the better prepared you’ll be.

Put the Pedal to the Metal and Drive Yourself from Zero to Success: Get two FREE Chapters of my book to rev up your engines and shift into high gear

Fast Track Your Life by Working with Mentors and Coaches

The Biggest mistake I made as a young entrepreneur was to try to do it all and figure it all out on my own. It was my nature, back then, to be something of a rebel. I was competitive, so my rebellious nature served me well, especially in sports. Perseverance, determination and a good measure of toughness allowed me to excel as a young athlete. However, as one of my mentors later observed – for most people, their greatest strength can turn into their biggest weakness. In many ways, that was true for me.

In law school, my colleagues were trying to get the attention of the big law firms and to land a “great job”. I was committed to starting my own firm – which I did immediately upon graduating and passing the bar exam. I was bold and that is a definite asset in business. But at times, I think I had more guts than smarts and my boldness could get me into trouble.

What happened for me is that even with my early mentors, I was brazen and impatient. If I didn’t like what they suggested, I’d storm off and do things my own way. I felt like they just didn’t understand. Before long, I found myself without any mentors. That’s what happens if you think you know it all.

I began to read books and listen to audio programs. I was searching. I knew that something was amiss, but I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was.

Then one morning it all came together. As I took the long walk from the front door of my office to the mail box it hit me. I stood there on Main Street and looked west. As I did I recalled the earlier conversations with my colleagues about how proud they were for how long and hard they had worked. Then, I looked east and recalled similar conversations I had had with the attorneys whose offices were in that direction.

I had a realization.

If I continued on the path I was on, I’d wind up in the same shape they were in. Older, overworked, tired, spending more time telling war stories than planning an exciting future. And it was in that moment that I vowed to find a better way.

I realized that I needed help. If I continued to do it on my own, I would continue to get the same, now unacceptable, results. I had to find others who had found a better way – one that was perhaps similar to what I had in mind, and ask them for direction.

In short, the remedy was to become coachable.

I spent the next five years re-tooling. I went to every seminar I could and I listened intently to the successful people that spoke at them. And I started to see a pattern. Many of their stories were similar in that they too had coaches and mentors. The lesson I was learning is that no matter how bright or gifted you are there are areas where you can learn more and where you can improve.

The single most important thing you can do is to seek out Mentors and Coaches and follow their advice. I am always working with at least one coach and one mentor.

Put the Pedal to the Metal and Drive Yourself from Zero to Success: Get two FREE Chapters of my new book, which compels you to rev up your engines and shift into high gear.

Pump Up the Volume with Power Days

I'm all for being organized and planning my days. It's essential, and most of the time things work out fine. But sometimes, as the song says, life is what happens while you're making other plans.

Sometimes there are days where, for one reason or another, my plate is overflowing and I absolutely must squeeze the most out of every minute. While I don’t like working like this all the time, I go into power day mode when necessary.

As a kid growing up on Long Island in the ‘70’s, I was naturally a big fan of the New York Islanders. During their “dynasty years” they raised themselves from the worst team in the league to four consecutive world championships. Several times during this incredible run, they found themselves facing elimination from the playoffs. The first time they went down 0-3 in a series, it came out that no team had overcome such a deficit since 1942. They had to win 4 straight games against the very team that had just beaten them three games in a row. The odds were against them.

Sure enough, they pulled it off and won the series. Then they went on to win two more seven game series and another championship.

During one of the post-game interviews the coach was asked how he rallied his team in the face of almost certain elimination. He explained, “I told them that from that (4th) game on, we were going to play the game one line shift at a time. Our goal is to win every single line shift (for those readers who are not hockey fans, the team puts five new players on the ice at a time – each group is called a line. Each line plays for about one and a half minutes before being replaced by the next line so they can rest and catch their breath).

In other words, he divided the 60 minute game into one and a half minute increments. He told his team we must win each one of these mini (minute and a half) games. By doing so, we’ll win the real game. And sure enough, they did.

How does that apply to you? You can divide your day into fifteen minute increments? Then, endeavor to accomplish as much as possible in each fifteen minute section of your day. Don’t take unnecessary phone calls, don’t allow any interruptions. During each fifteen minute section, stay focused and on track. You will accomplish a great deal.

Here's an example. Let's say you feel like the odometer is running, but your car is up on the block, so you're getting nowhere. That's when you need to call a power day. Choose a day and warn anyone around you that you aren't taking any calls or interruptions on that day. Set up a calendar that is divided into fifteen minute segments. Make a list of all the things you need to power through on that day and place them on the calendar. Don't stop until you reach the end. Have plenty of water and "power foods" around so you don't need a lot of breaks. Yes, this will be an intense day, so plan ahead to make it successful.

As I said, I like to limit the number of power days I engage in because they can be pretty intense. Doing them too often leads me to burnout and with my travel schedule I have enough to combat. So be discriminating in your use of Power Days and make the most out of them.

Put the Pedal to the Metal and Drive Yourself from Zero to Success: Two FREE Chapters of my new book compel you to rev up your engines and shift into high gear